I do not cease to wonder at the constancy of your demanding. For you demand
that I bring a book written in Chaldean words into Latin writing, indeed the
book of Tobias, which the Hebrews exclude from the catalogue of Divine
Scriptures, being mindful of those things which they have titled Hagiographa. I
have done enough for your desire, yet not by my study. For the studies of the
Hebrews rebuke us and find fault with us, to translate this for the ears of
Latins contrary to their canon. But it is better to be judging the opinion of
the Pharisees to displease and to be subject to the commands of bishops. I have
persisted as I have been able, and because the language of the Chaldeans is
close to Hebrew speech, finding a speaker very skilled in both languages, I took
to the work of one day, and whatever he expressed to me in Hebrew words, this,
with a summoned scribe, I have set forth in Latin words. I will be paid the
price of this work by your prayers, when, by your grace, I will have learned
what you request to have been completed by me was worthy.

END OF THE PROLOGUE

This text was translated by Kevin P. Edgecomb,
Berkeley, California, 2006, published here
and released by him into the public domain. All material on this page is
in the public domain - copy freely. Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Kevin introduces his translation as follows: This
is the first of St Jeromeís Vulgate prologues for one of the apocrypha that
Iíve done. Itís very interesting, if one pays attention to his reasoning in
this prologue, it being actually a letter which accompanied his translation of
Tobias to the Bishops Cromatius and Heliodorus. St Jerome is often considered or
claimed to be vehemently opposed to the apocrypha, especially in antapocryphal
Protestant circles. But we find in this letter that this is only half of the
picture. While the apocrypha were not included in the Hebrew Bible, and St
Jerome respects the Hebrew studies on this matter, he explcitly states here that
the decisions of Christian bishops are more important. Something like this has
been the response to critics of the "apocrypha," "deuterocanonicals," or
whatever you want to call them, throughout the ages: they are included in the
canon because that has been, is, and always will be the practice of the Church.
Itís good to see this from St Jerome, and weíll see a similar thing in his
Prologue to Judith, coming up next. Enjoy!